1. Technical Field
This invention relates to animal stanchions, and more particularly to a locking cattle stanchion having a stanchion bumper precluding unintentional repositioning of the release stanchion to the downed cow position.
2. Background
Safety stanchions to hold and selectively release cattle during feeding, milking, veterinary care, pregnancy testing and even calving are very commonly used throughout the United States. They are found in feed lots, ranching operations, dairies and virtually any other activity where cattle and dairy cows are tended to. They have some common characteristics, in that they are usually fabricated in long strings of individual stanchions connected between top and bottom rails and set in concrete which are used to separate the animals from the feed bunker.
In the typical prior art cattle stanchion being manufactured today, the head opening for the animal is typically defined between a stationary, vertically-oriented stanchion and a pivotal release stanchion, which, when tilted in one direction, enlarges the upper part of the opening so that the animal can put its head through. As the animal lowers its head to reach the feed, the pivotal release stanchion pivots to a more vertical position where, if desired, it can be automatically latched in place to define the closed position. In the closed position, the animal cannot withdraw its head from the stanchion and is effectively held in place. If the animal becomes distressed and falls down, or is knocked down by an adjacent animal, the stanchion can be individually released to a downed animal position by releasing the latch on the release stanchion and allowing it to pivot in the opposite direction to enlarge the opening in the lower portion of the head opening so that the downed animal can remove its head.
These long strings of cattle stanchions serve many useful functions which include, but are not limited to, permitting each animal equal access to the feed bunker for equal portion sizing, for holding the animals close together where they are most comfortable, since they are instinctually herd animals, and to immobilize the animal for veterinary care, such as dehorning, vaccinating, pregnancy testing, and a host of other types of uses.
Control of the latch mechanism for the release stanchion in the prior art has traditionally been accomplished by means of a control rod, which is mounted atop the top rail. In the prior art, the control rod contains one of two cooperating parts of a latch mechanism for the release stanchion, with the other cooperating part of the latch mechanism attached to the top of the pivotal release stanchion. The typical prior art safety stanchion assembly contains a control rod which provides for the following lock and release functions: A locked open position where the released stanchion automatically falls to the open position when the upper portion of its opening is enlarged, to enable an animal to insert its head and then lower its head, swinging the release stanchion out of the way as it reaches for feed; an open to automatic closed position where when the animal lowers its head, the release stanchion locks in place in the closed position to automatically lock the animal in the stanchion; a manually operable downed animal position wherein the rancher or dairyman can release an individual animal that has fallen down by manually pivoting the release stanchion to the downed animal position; and a locked close position to lock all of the stanchions in a closed position to either keep the animals from inserting their heads through the stanchion, or to keep all of the animals contained within the stanchions.
In the prior art, the typical stanchion is designed to have the pivotal release stanchion fall, by gravity, into the open position where the upper part of the opening is enlarged so that a standing animal can put its head through, but when the stanchions are locked open, and the animal inserts its head through the enlarged upper opening and lowers it forcefully, or perhaps moves its lowered head from side to side, it can swing the pivotal stanchion to the downed animal position where the lower portion of the opening is enlarged. In the prior art stanchions, if this occurs, the pivotal stanchion will often times remain, by force of gravity, in the downed animal position. Many animals then learn to withdraw their heads from the lowered position, thus leaving the stanchion in the downed animal position, from which it has to be manually reset by the operator.
It is not unusual for an operator to routinely leave the row of cattle stanchions in the locked open position. If there is no particular need at a particular feeding to lock them in, leaving them in the locked open position makes sense, since the cattle stanchion still serves the purpose of portion sizing and preventing the spoliation of the cattle feed because the animals still have to stick their heads through the openings to reach the feed bunker. However, some animals will learn to insert their heads through the upper opening, and as they lower their heads to knock the pivotal cattle stanchion to the downed animal position while feeding. If the operator then decides, while the cattle are feeding, to lock them in for whatever reason and repositions the latch mechanism control to the automatic closed position, the operator will not catch the animals who have moved the stanchions to the downed animal position.
Both of these situations, namely resetting the pivotal stanchions that have been repositioned by the animal to the downed animal position and left in that configuration when the animal withdraws its head, and the situation where the animal repositions the pivotal stanchion to the downed animal position before the operator has the chance to shift to an automatic closed mode, have been perennial problems for which there has been no solution.